Automatic brake for bicycles



(No Model.) 2 Sheets8heet 1.

W. E. ELLIOTT. AUTOMATIC BRAKE FOR BIGYG LBS.

Patented Feb. 11, 1896.

. (No Model.) 2 Sheets- -Shet 2.

W; E. ELLIOTT. AUTOMATIC BRAKE FOR BIUYGLES. No. 554,416. Patented Feb. 1-1, 1896.

? Nrrnn STATES ATE-NT E \VILLIAM E. ELLIOTT, OF ELGIN, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES R. LANE, 'OF

" CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC BRAKE FOR BICYCLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 554,416, dated February 11, 1896.

Application filed May 28,

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Elgin, in the county of Kane and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Brakes for Bicycles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to automatic brakes for bicycles, 850.

It is well known that expert bicycle-riders object to the use of the usual hand-brake, owing to the inconvenience of its manipulation, and it is a common practice to remove the brake from the wheel and rely upon backpedaling or pressure upon the pedals to retard the machine.

The present invention, while applicable to all machines, whether chain or gear driven, is designed to provide a brake which will be automatically thrown into operation as a re sult of back-pedaling or whenever a retarding pressure is applied to the pedals of the machine.

The primary object of the invention is to effect the setting of the brake through the medium of a gearwheel comprising a driving and a driven section operated bythe crankpedals 5 and the invention consists in the several broad features hereinafter fully described and in the construction and combinations of devices defined in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a bicycle of the chain-andsprocket class equipped with my improved brake. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a part of the machine. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the inner face of a part of one of the sprocketwheels. Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken through the rim and periphery of one of the sprocket-wheels. Fig. 5 is a sectional plan taken 011 the line a b of Fig. 2, and Fig. 6 is a detail view illustrating the adj ustability of the brake shoe.

To the seat-post 1 of the machine is secured a clamp 2, from which is suspended a hanger 3 carrying at its lower end a brake-shoe 4. The hanger 3 has a pivotal connection 5 with the clamp 2 to permit a free swinging move- 1894. $orial No. 512,696. (No model.)

ment, and the shoe 4- is adjustably secured to the hanger by means of serrated meeting faces 6 and 7 and a bolt 8, as shown in Fig. 6.

The hanger 3 is adapted to be raised by a lever 9 pivotally secured at about its center upon a stud 10 projecting from one side of the post 1, the stud-opening of the lever being tapped to permit a limited swinging movement of the lever. The ends of the lever 9 are oppositely curved, as shown clearly in Fig. 5. The rear curved end, 11, of the lever serves as a striking-arm to swing the brakehanger rearwardly, while the forward arm, 12, of said lever is provided with a roller 13 adapted to contact with the brake-ring of the sprocket-wheel when said ring is projected laterally, as hereinafter explained.

The primary feature of the invention is the sprocket-wheel 14 consisting of a spider and rim 15, a peripheral sprocket portion 16, a clamping-ring 17, and a brake-ring connected to the rim 15 and sprocket-ring 16 by series of toggle-arms. The rim 15 is formed at equidistant intervals with elongated peripheral recesses 18, Fig. 2, and the inner surface of the sprocket-ring 16 is provided with inwardly-extendin g lugs 19, which enter the recesses of the rim and allow a limited circumferential play of the sprocket-ring upon the rim 15, as will be readily understood from Fig. 2 of the drawings, the sprocket-ring being supported by the clamping-ring 17.

Projecting, respectively, from the inner faces of the sprocket-ring 16 and the rim 15 are two perforated lugs 20 and 21, to which are pivotally secured the outer ends of overlapping toggle-arms 22 and 23, one resting on the outer surface and one on the inner surface of the brake-ring 24, to which the inner overlapping ends of both the toggle-arms are secured pivotally by pins or screws 25, as shown in Fig. 4.

In practice I employ a series of these pairs of toggle-arms, preferably three pairs, arranged at equal distances apart, so that the brake-ring 24 will be balanced in its connection with the sprocket-wheel, and when projected laterally from the wheel will be the same distance from the wheel at all points throughout its circumference.

From the construction of sprocket-wheel thus described it will be clear that the spider and rim 15, being mounted rigidly on the crank or treadle shaft, constitute the drivingsection of the wheel, while the sprocket-ring 16, having a lug-and-recess connection with the rim 15, is the driven section of the wheel.

The operation of the mechanism thus described is as follows: Normally the brakering will rest against the side of the wheel 14, as shown in Fig. 4, the toggle-arms 22 and 23 lying in flat or folded position. l/Vhen the machine is in motion and it is desired to suddenly check its movement, pressure upon the treadles or back-pedaling will retard the revolution of the driving-section 15 of the sprocket-wheel more promptly than that of the sprocket or driven section, as the momentum of the sprocket-chain will carry said driven portion around faster than the drivi-ng-.section, with the effect of moving the sprocket-ring upon the rim 15 for a distance equal to the limit of the recesses 18, thus causing the several pairs of toggle-arms to project the brake-ring laterally. The contact of said brake-ring with the roller of the brakelever forces the rear arm of said lever in contact with the hanger 3, raising the latter and throwing theshoe 4; against the wheel to brake the latter.

It will be apparent that by the means described I secure not only a thoroughly automatic brake, but, owing to the direct action and the short distance between the power and the brake-shoe, a much more powerful brake is afforded than where the power is transmitted through chains or other intermediate mechanism.

I do not limit myself to the details of construction herein shown anddescribed, as'many alterations and modifications in the construction might be resorted to without departing from the gist of my invention; but I desire to reserve .to-myself the right to make allsuch changes or variations in details as may properly fall within the scope of the following claims.

I claim- 1. A brake for bicycles, 850., comprising a suitably-supported brake-shoe, a wheel having a driving-section and a driven section, one section movable upon the other, a lever for setting the brake-shoe, and means projected into engagement with said lever by the relative movement of the driving and driven sections of the wheel to set the brake, substantially as described.

2. A brake for bicycles, 850., comprising a suspended brake-shoe, a sprocket-wheel consisting of a driving-section and a driven section, a lever, and means laterally connected to said wheel which is projected into engagement with the said lever by the relative movement of the driving and driven sections of the wheel to set the brake, substantially as shown and described.

3. A brake for bicycles comprising a suspended hanger carrying a brake shoe, a

sprocket-wheel consisting of sections, one of which has a circumferential movement upon the other, a lever for swinging said hanger,and means projected laterally from the sprocketwheel by the movement of one of said sections upon the other for operating said lever, substantially as described.

4:. In a bicycle-brake, the combination with a suspended brake-shoe, and a lever for setting the same, of a wheel consisting of circumferential driving and driven sections, one movable upon the other, and means projected into engagement with said lever by the relative movement of the driving and driven sections of the wheel, to set the brake, substantially as described.

5. In a bicycle-brake, the combination with a suspended brake-shoe and a lever for setting thesame, of a wheel comprising a driving and driven section, one section movable upon the other,a-concentric ring con nectedto the wheelsection, said ring being projected laterally by the relative movement of the wheel-sections to engage the brake-lever and set the brake, substantially as described.

6. In a bicycle-brake, the combination with a suspended hanger and brake-shoe, anda lever for setting the latter, of means for operating said lever, consisting of a wheel formed of circumferentialsections, the outer of said sections being adapted to travel by the momentum of the machine .a limited distance upon the inner section to operate a brakering, the latter engaging said lever substantially as described.

7 In a bicycle-brake, the combination with a suspended hanger and brake-shoe, of a tilting lever, a sprocket-wheel, consisting of independent circumferential sections, and a brake-ring having toggle connections with said wheel-sections and adapted to be thrown in contact with said tilting lever, substantially .as described.

8. In a bicycle-brake, the combination with a suspended hanger .and brakeshoe, of a tilting lever pivotally secured to the seat-post of the machine and provided with a rear arm adapted to contact with said hanger, and a forward end carrying a roller, a sprocket- Wheel formed of circumferential sections,and a concentric ring carried by the wheel and moved laterally for automatically tilting said lever and thus set the brake through the medium of the relative movement of the said sections, substantially as described.

9. The combination with the hanger suspended from a clamp upon the seat-post, and carrying a brake shoe adjustably secured thereto, of a tilting lever pivotally secured to one side of said seat-post and having oppositely-curved arms, a sprocket-wheel comprising a driving portion and a driven portion, t0gglelevers secured to said wheel, and a brake-ring secured to said toggle-levers and adapted to be automatically thrown against the tilting lever, substantially as described.

10. A sprocket-wheel for bicycles consist ing of a spider and rim, the latter having elongated peripheral recesses, and a sprocket-ring provided with inwardly-projected lugs and adapted to have a limited circumferential movement upon said recessed rim, in combination with a brake-shoe, a lever, and means projected into engagement with said lever by the relative movement of one section of the wheel upon the other, to set the brake, substantially as described.

WILLIAM E. ELLIOTT. Witnesses:

W. R. OMOHUNDRO, M. E. SHIELDS. 

